second twice before he could satisfy himself that he had found the style suited to his subject.  The progress of the work was delayed by the fact that G. had meanwhile (1774) entered the House of Commons, where, as member for Liskeard, he was a steady, though silent, supporter of Lord North in his American policy.  He subsequently sat for Lymington, and held office as a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations 1779-82.  The first vol. of the Decline and Fall appeared in 1776, and was received with acclamation, and it was not until some time had elapsed that the author’s treatment of the rise of Christianity excited the attention and alarm of the religious and ecclesiastical world.  When, however, the far-reaching nature of his views was at length realised, a fierce and prolonged controversy arose, into which G. himself did not enter except in one case where his fidelity as an historian was impugned.  The second and third vols. appeared in 1781, and thereafter (1783) G. returned to Lausanne, where he lived tranquilly with an early friend, M. Deyverdun, devoting his mornings to the completion of his history, and his evenings to society.  At length, on the night of June 27, 1787, in the summer-house of his garden, the last words were penned, and the great work of his life completed.  Of the circumstances, and of his feelings at the moment, he has himself given an impressive account.  The last three vols. were issued in 1788, G. having gone to London to see them through the press.  This being done he returned to Lausanne where, within a year, his beloved friend Deyverdun d. His last years were clouded by ill-health, and by anxieties with regard to the French Revolution.  In 1793, though travelling was a serious matter for him, he came to England to comfort his friend Lord Sheffield on the death of his wife, took ill, and d. suddenly in London on January 16, 1794.

The place of G. among historians is in the first rank, and if the vast scale of his work and the enormous mass of detail involved in it are considered along with the learning and research employed in accumulating the material, and the breadth of view, lucidity of arrangement, and sense of proportion which have fused them into a distinct and splendid picture, his claims to the first place cannot be lightly dismissed.  His style, though not pure, being tinged with Gallicisms, is one of the most noble in our literature, rich, harmonious, and stately; and though sources of information not accessible to him have added to our knowledge, and have shown some of his conclusions to be mistaken, his historical accuracy has been comparatively little shaken, and his work is sure of permanence.  As a man G. seems to have been somewhat calm and cool in his feelings, though capable of steady and affectionate friendships, such as those with Deyverdun and the Sheffields, which were warmly reciprocated, and he appears to have been liked in society, where his brilliant conversational powers made him shine.  He was vain, and affected the manners of the fine gentleman, which his unattractive countenance and awkward figure, and latterly his extreme corpulence, rendered somewhat ridiculous.  He left an interesting Autobiography.